Search

Parenting now & then

I want to go back in time, not only to be a kid one more time having no responsibilities,no worries and just having fun. Not only because I miss my family so much but because I believe that parenting was less complicated. I can’t say that it was easier, but I am quite sure that it was not as complicated and competitive as today. I remember when I was a kid no one would ever interfere or even judge the way my parents were rasining us. I believe because all of the parents kept all the rules simple and almost the same. Today as a parent, whenever I see any good or happy parenting post on facebook or instagram, I start to feel guilty and compare it “unconsciously” with what I have done that day with my kids “ yeah, I am silly.. I know 😐”. The development of social media and technology had affected us on so many levels. Back then, there were more room for communication between the parents and the kids because there were less distractions and they were simply in the same room. Nowadays, not only do the parents have smartphones but also the kids have their own tablets and ipads. When I was a kid entertainment meant simply playing. Playing anywhere, in our rooms, in the garden beside our house, at our granny’s house or even in the living room with our parents whike they were watching the news or reading newspapers or playing crosswords “together”. Entertainment for my kids now is a list that never ends and they get bored so easily. They want to play with their toys, watch their favorite movie, play with their tablets, color, do arts and crafts, go out for a walk, cooking a nice meal, jumping on the couch, dancing,…etc. I remember my mother would simply send us to the garden and watch us playing from the window. But nowdays, I would never leave my kids play out of the house without my assistance and without knowing who is playing with them. Keep an eye on them and I never leave them alone. That is not for sure because my mother cared less for us, but because it was way safer than today.

On fridays, we would watch TV for an hour by no choice in the morning because Cartoons were only for one hour on TV. And there were only one TV in the house. Nowadays, there are several cartoon channels that are working 24 hours. Also, talking about TV, I rememeber my mother letting us watching TV for a long time didn’t make her by any means a bad mother and it didn’t make us less behaved.

Let’s talk about my childhood memories about summer vacations. It was the same destination every summer. We used to go with our big family and we would be up to 30 people in the same apartment. But it didn’t matter because we were having fun. We would wake up in the early morning, had a quick breakfast and head to the beach. We used to play on the sand till sunset without getting bored ever. Afterwards, we would go back, eat lunch and go for a walk. Then we would come back home and fall asleep dreaming about the next day. As for now, our little kids have to tell their opinion about the vacation. They are not only pleased with playing on the sand. I have to pack their toys and tablets in case they do not enjoy their time.

Sometimes, I wish my kids were born in the eighties like me were life was way simpler and enjoyable.Kids were grateful for anything and didn’t have that variety of entertainment that keeps them confused. I believe kids were happier and having fun with the least things, not to forget that toys were encouraging us to play all together, not each kid on his own.

All of these things made it harder for us to raise our kids the way we were raised. Challenges are more than before and the parent are not the only source of information for their kids, may be they are the last option.

At last, all I want to say is that I wish all the luck to all of us with parenting our kids the way we wish and that we know the right way with raising our kids to be happy, grateful and responsible.

Yes, times really are different. In the 80’s as a kid, I went to the library, the park, bike riding, and my computer was a Vic 20 with no internet, lol. My children grew up with desktop pc’s, laptops and cell phones. I was scared to let them go anywhere alone, even playing outside because the world was bolder and crueler. Maybe it truly wasn’t because crime and cruelty have always existed but it was more widely known. I was grown and didn’t own a cell phone! Now that my oldest has a baby of her own I can even see the difference from when I raised my children and now. I won’t say I want to go back to that time period because I’m enjoying the now with all the modern conveniences and technology but I will say it was a special time in my life.

I miss the time of kids playing outside. My friends and I couldn’t wait to get home, change out of our school clothes, and then go outside for literally hours (until it got dark) riding our bikes, scooters, and making up games. Things were so simple back then…